The Kid Brigade
by ShinyShiny9
Summary: The littlest members of the Sonic crew have a lot on their minds, but they still have to act like kids sometimes! But when they form a club and start to gain a reputation for mischief, things get out of hand...
1. The Rise of the Brigade

**A/N: Woohoo, first fic! Fair warning: I've already been told by two independent parties that Tails is wildly OOC in this story. And no doubt he is, but only for this one. And seriously, even Tails has to lighten up sometimes!**

**Anyway. I don't own Sonic and Co, nor any of the entities referenced...more info on that at the end of the chapter!**

Mobius could be a madly crazy place at times, when it came under attack by Dr. Eggman or angry travelers of time and space or random mobs of aliens. That's what Sonic and his friends were always ready for. But in between those times, when Dr. Eggman was cooking up his next scheme, and the various other threats were licking their proverbial wounds (provided they were still around to have wounds, proverbial or not), life on Mobius was pretty peaceful. Sonic would go for long runs that spanned continents at times, then return for a stretch of napping and lazing and annoying anyone he could—Shadow and Knuckles in particular. Rouge and Shadow would sigh and savor a few weeks with only a few G.U.N. missions (and Sonic) bothering them. Knuckles would guard his Master Emerald and fight with Rouge, Amy would chase Sonic and try to tempt him with pastries, Blaze and Silver would train together, trying again and again to combine their powers to create the legendary Fire Blitz... In short, a rather humdrum, happy, routine-based existence. It could get maddening if it went on too long, but whenever a big ruckus had just ended, it was pure sweet heaven.

Now, what did the little ones on Mobius do when things were this calm? Of course, they all had their own routines and duties, just like the older ones. Tails was frequently busy with his contraptions and devices, and often went dashing around with Sonic too. Charmy hung around the Chaotix headquarters, as bored as his teammates, and helped out with the cases they got once every other blue moon. Marine sometimes helped her teammates Silver and Blaze with their training, plus she always had some hairbrained scheme involving a boat going on. And Cream helped her mother out around the house and garden like the little sweetie she was.

But very often the youngsters, still being just...well..._youngsters_, would be struck by the urge to go out and play. Naturally, it was much more fun to play with a friend, and sometimes even all four of them would get together and have a rousing game of whatever they pleased. Soon they started to arrange special playdates where all of them would meet and have fun. They kept these appointments with great solemnity.

"Hey big guy, want to go on a quick dash with me?" asked Sonic one morning, popping into Tails' room without knocking, as usual. Tails had given up asking.

"Sure!" piped Tails. Then his face fell slightly. "Oh...wait. I already agreed to meet with the others today. They're coming to pick me up in a few minutes!" He studied Sonic's face with a tad of anxiety. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Psh, why would I mind?" laughed Sonic. "As long as you get out of that oily old workshop of yours, I'm happy! You need to play with kids your own age more often."

"We don't _play,_" snorted Tails, feeling that at eight years old the term was rather belittling. "We...hang out."

"Rrrright. Got it. 'Hang out'," grinned Sonic, making air quotes with his fingers.

Before Tails could retort, there came a knocking at the door. The little fox dashed to answer it at a speed that made Sonic raise his figurative eyebrows.

"Hi guys!" hollered Tails, throwing open the door and leaping outside. "What're we gonna do today?"

"PIRATES!" bellowed Marine, attempting to draw and quarter Tails with a wooden sword.

"Again?" Tails groaned, not at all disturbed about being drawn and quartered. "Marine, we _always—_"

"Not always, mate, we played cowboys last time," said Marine, hands on hips. "Besides, it's SPACE pirates! Battling ninjas! With giant monsters ev'rywhere!"

"And with lasers and huge robots?" asked Tails excitedly. "I'm in!"

Sonic chuckled as he watched the children dashing in circles through the grass, waving improvised weapons and making up ridiculous sounds to indicate lasers and clashing metal. Still, something inside him hurt a little as he watched. The kids might be having fun pretending to fire lasers at robots and monsters, but tomorrow they might be firing _real_ lasers at _real_ robots and monsters. Sometimes he felt guilty about him and his friends dragging these little children into a life of danger and stress and even grief. Sometimes he realized Tails was growing up much too fast, and it was mostly Sonic's own fault. Sometimes he stayed up at night comforting Tails after a bout of nightmares about the past—cursing himself for creating that past.

But the clouds didn't last long in Sonic's mind—they never could. At least Tails was happy right now. He could still lighten up and have fun now and then, just like a normal kid. Good for him. Maybe he'd gotten that from Sonic too.

As Sonic stretched and got ready to bolt out on his run, Tails stopped mid-laser-fire and hollered "Bye, Sonic!" Sonic grinned.

"Bye, Kid Brigade!" he hollered back, and took off.

"Kid Brigade?" said Cream curiously, also stopping mid-monster-punching. "What's a brigade?"

"It's a special kind of unit in the army—or just a group of people who have the same goal or attitude," explained Tails. "Like a fire brigade! That's just a gang of firefighters who work together."

"So...he means we're kids who fight? Like the army fights, and firefighters fight?" asked Charmy.

"I think he just means we're a gang," smiled Tails.

"We should go by that moniker!" said Marine, her eyes lighting up. "It's smashin'!"

"You mean, make it the official name for the four of us? Like we're a club?"

"Yeah!"

"You know, that does kinda sound like fun," said Tails. "Maybe we should even _be_ a club! We like hanging out together, and everything's always more fun when we're all together doing it. Let's make it official!"

They all snatched up their play weapons, gathered in a ring, and crossed the various blunt instruments in the center.

"Now we are, officially—the Kid Brigade!" cheered Tails.

The Kid Brigade soon became a full-blown serious affair. Well, as serious as you'd expect when it consisted of four rambunctious youngsters, anyhow. They had a "secret" clubhouse in Cream's basement, although they had to tell Vanilla about it. Soon their combined busy little brains had devised a club song, a club motto ("Charge of the Kid Brigade!"), a special secret knock, and even a secret handshake, which most of them would be much too embarrassed to ever perform in public.

At first they just kept on doing their usual thing, meeting up to play—er, "hang out" together, and everyone thought their little club was very cute. But soon enough, being for the most part a mischievous bunch, they realized they were wasting their potential. Alone they couldn't do much, but together they could be a mischief-making force of nature.

They managed to keep a low profile for a long time. They would set buckets of water over doors, switch the salt and sugar, scrawl childish insults on fences with chalk, stuff cupboards full of packing peanuts—all things they wouldn't be caught doing. A lot of their friends began to wonder what had set off Sonic's sudden pranking streak, while Sonic wondered who was trying to get even with him! Aside from what Charmy called "stealth missions," they did try a few more daring stunts. Their favorite by far was the "Serenade" mission.

It had been executed flawlessly, starting one lovely, sunny, drowsy sort of morning. Sonic was lying lazily on a low-hanging branch, eyes half-closed. Suddenly a distant clash and tingle of metal reached his ears, accompanied by a strange wailing sound.

He bolted upright and dashed off in the direction of the sound, wondering if it was a new invention of Eggman's. When he reached the source of the commotion, however, he burst out laughing. The Kid Brigade had somehow managed to procure a set of musical instruments, and they were marching in a line and playing them loudly. Tails, in front, had a little plastic trumpet, the kind you could win at fairs. Basically, it was a glorified kazoo. Charmy had a snare drum (oh, poor Team Chaotix!), Marine had a pair of cymbals, and Cream had a harmonica which she clearly didn't know how to play. Charmy and Marine were loudly singing the club song as they marched and played.

It took Sonic a while to get a hold of himself.

"Where are you off to, O musical marvels?" he asked at last, saluting.

"We are going to spread our beauteous music to those in need of good cheer!" announced Tails, rather proud of himself for pronouncing "beauteous" without a hitch.

"Well, ya sure cheered me up," laughed Sonic. "Go forth and spread the beauteous music, then! Have fun you guys!"

Still chuckling, he trotted back to his perch in the tree. Little did he know that the Kid Brigade had a very specific idea of who needed "good cheer." They marched around a while for effect, then Tails and Charmy airlifted the girls onto Angel Island...Knuckles was not amused. His nap, nay, his whole day, was shot. However, he wasn't about to hurt little kids, and he was too reluctant to leave the Master Emerald to go complain to anyone—which was just what the Kid Brigade had planned on. They were still savoring that deliciously successful mission weeks later.

Still, there was bound to be a catastrophe sooner or later. Strangely, it all started with one of the Kid Brigade's more innocent endeavors.

They were all wrapped up in one of their little fantasy adventures when they saw Shadow approaching. He stopped for a moment to watch them from a distance, somewhat bemused at their bizarre behavior. The youngsters, daring as you please, decided to try lighten Shadow up a bit. They swooped over.

"C'mon and join us, Shadow!" called Tails cheerfully, waving a leek they had gotten from Vanilla's garden. "You can be in our story! It'll be fun!"

"No thanks," said Shadow, turning to leave. "I have better things to do than—whatever it is you're doing."

"But you can't leave!" protested Tails, tugging at Shadow's arm. When Shadow turned to make a cutting remark, he found that Tails was already pressing the leek into his hand.

"I don't want your onion," he scowled, handing it back.

"It's not an onion, it's a leek! And you have to keep it!" said Cream, her eyes sparkling with the excitement of the story. Shadow steeled himself; resisting Cream's sweetness was often tough even for him.

"And why," he asked, carefully placing just enough impatience into his voice, "do I have to keep this leek?"

"Because it is the source of all the world's happiness! And I must HAVE it!" cackled Marine. She and Charmy were being the villains of the story.

"And you're the king!" explained Tails. "You're the good king who must protect the mighty leek, the source of all happiness!"

Shadow surveyed the long green stalk that Tails had again forced into his hand, then looked around at the gaggle of bouncing youngsters. The situation was vaguely amusing, but he was in no mood to be amused.

"Look here, kiddos," he warned, trying and failing to return the leek to Tails. "I don't want to participate in your stupid game, all right? You play what you like, but just keep me out of it, okay?"

"Aww, pleeeease? You can't just leave! You're the mighty king, protector of the great leek! We're doomed without you!" wailed Tails, struggling not to giggle.

Again Shadow looked around at the kids wearily. A way out of there presented itself, one suitable to his rising temper. Heaven forbid someone should catch him like this, he'd never hear the end of it.

"Okay. So I'll play in your story," he said. "But if I do, that means I get to have a say in what happens, right? Help make up the story?"

"Sure! We're just making it up as we go along anyway!" smiled Cream, surprised and delighted at Shadow's sudden compliance.

"Right. So I am the great leek protector king," said Shadow, struggling not to roll his eyes...too much. "At least...that's what you _think._ Because really, all this time, I have been a traitor working with the forces of evil! And do you know why?"

The kids stared at him, stunned at this turn of events. They hadn't expected a twist quite so dramatic.

"So I may possess the leek ALL to myself!" roared Shadow, brandishing the leek. Then he was gone, in a flash of black fur. The briefest moment of shocked silence...

"_He's stolen our leek!_" howled Marine. "We need that!"

"Hurry! He went to that grove of trees there!" called Charmy.

The youngsters set out pell-mell, but it was no use. By the time they reached the shady little stand of trees, nothing was left of the leek but some satisified crunchings. A raw leek may not be very delectable to the average Joe, but Shadow had a stomach like steel. An entire raw leek was nothing to him, and it actually tasted pretty nice.

The Kid Brigade stood frozen in only partially simulated horror.

"How—how _could_ you?!" gasped Charmy at last. "That leek was the source of all happiness! How could you just...just...just EAT it? How?"

"I'm a heel," shrugged Shadow, smirking. "Go get yourselves a new leek, and next time don't bother me."

He took off again.

That could easily have been the end of it. The Kid Brigade could have laughed ruefully and gone to get another leek, or made a random pinecone their new Source of All Happiness, or whatever. But no, they had gotten too cocky for that.

At least, some of them had.

"All right, fellow-brigadiers," said Tails grimly, as the crew sat disconsolately under a hedge. "We must avenge our poor leek!"

"Right!" chorused Charmy and Marine.

"It's only a leek," volunteered Cream softly. "He was welcome to eat it—Mommy always shares her vegetables anyway. We can get a new one!"

"No, no, Cream!" protested Charmy. "That's not the point! It was our leek, and he tricked us so he could get away and ruin our game and eat it! He was being a bully!"

"He did ask politely for us to stop, but we didn't," Cream persisted. As you might expect, she was the calmest head in the whole gang, often uneasy or even unwilling in the face of the others' mischief-making. She'd always gone along with it before, though.

"Oy mate, don't try to make excuses for the drongo," scolded Marine. "You know very well he 'ad no right to do that! We have to teach him a lesson!"

Cream fell silent, still uncertain. She decided to wait and see how this plan proceeded.

**A/N: Regarding the reference to...references...in the first A/N: Whenever I write, I usually find myself making veiled references to random songs, movies, books, all kinds of things, whether it's intentional or not. So hey, might as well make the best of it! This can be a kind of game. There's one reference to a song/internet phenomenon hidden in this chapter, fairly easy to find, I think. Review or PM me if you think you've found the reference (Which, again, I don't own), and you can get a virtual cookie! Good luck!**


	2. A Bad Idea

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Pop Rocks either.**

The plan proceeded very rapidly and very well. Cream did not vote it down. Far from voting it down...she was nominated the perpetrator.

"Don't be scared, Cream, we'll be right nearby!" Charmy had urged.

"But I don't want to..."

"You have to! You're the only one who can do it!"

And thus Cream found herself audaciously approaching Shadow the next day, holding something cupped in her hands. Shadow was dozing in the warm sunlight—in the napping department, he was more like Sonic than he would care to admit. It just came with the speed function.

"Hello Mr. Shadow!" piped Cream happily, skipping up to him. "Oh! I hope I didn't wake you?"

Shadow sat up on the park bench he'd been taking up the length of. He'd thought it was nice and secluded, with trees and hedges all around, but still with a lovely spot of sunlight right on the bench. But no, the ingenuity of young chatterboxes knew no bounds.

All the same, this _was_ Cream. He could refrain from annoyance for a while.

"I wasn't asleep yet," he shrugged, shaking his quills back into order. "What is it?"

"I have something nice for you, Mr. Shadow! A surprise!" smiled Cream.

"Oh do you?"

"Yes! Close your eyes and open wide please, and I'll put it in your mouth," instructed Cream.

Shadow regarded her skeptically. That story took some swallowing, and not just in the literal sense. After all, he had eaten her friends' leek only yesterday; why would she suddenly be extra-nice? Besides, why the secrecy instead of just handing the item to him?

"Surprise, eh?" he said out loud. "How do I know it's not something nasty?"

"Oh, it isn't," protested Cream. "Really, it's delicious. I've eaten it lots of times!"

Shadow surveyed her again. Her smile was innocent and childish, her eyes without a hint of shiftiness. He ran some calculations in his head.

_All right, so possibly she's trying to get revenge because I ate that leek,_ he thought to himself. _What the heck of it? If it was that nasty, she wouldn't be holding it in her hands. And if I don't like it, I can just spit it out. Besides, she's the sweetest kid on Mobius! Her idea of a prank is probably Pop Rocks. Or she may not even be plotting, she may just honestly have a cookie or something. The heck. Just take it and move on already!_

The entire calculation took only a moment; Shadow's notorious "two-second freeze." Then he nodded resignedly and got down on one knee to be at the little rabbit's level.

"Let's have it," he said wearily.

"Oh, good," said Cream. "Now, close your eyes and open really wide!"

Shadow shut his eyes and opened his mouth a bit, still uncertain of where the deception lay. Cream spread her hands to reveal—nothing.

"A little wider, please," she requested. Partly it was to mask the sound of Charmy diving out of the bushes nearby, giving her a water balloon and a thumbs-up, and disappearing again. Cream took a deep breath, closed her eyes, lifted the water balloon high over her head...

Shadow's eyes flew open as soon as he felt something cool and wet splash over him. He could taste a rivulet of a sweet, creamy liquid dripping into his mouth. Again he froze for two seconds, then he shook his quills and stood up abruptly, stiff with anger. His eyes were cold, but he didn't even realize that his overall expression was somewhat cheated as well. From Cream, he hadn't expected that.

Cream was supposed to be long gone. She was supposed to have shouted the club motto and then run like the wind before Shadow even knew what had hit him. But unfortunately, Cream was just not the type of person for this kind of mission. She had managed to stammer "Charge of—of..." then had trailed off and stood mutely, eyes wide in horror at her own audacity. One more look at a dripping Shadow–it was yogurt, by the way–and she burst into tears.

"Oh Mr. Shadow, I'm so sorrrryyyyy!" she managed to wail, before descending into incoherence. Shadow swiped aside a dribble of yogurt before it reached his eye, and considered his options grimly.

Meanwhile, terror and consternation were in full swing among the rest of the Kid Brigade, all of which were stationed behind a nearby hedge.

"She hasn't run away! She's started to cry!" gasped Tails, who was peeking over the hedge's top. "He'll kill her!"

"Whaddawedo, whaddawedo?" asked Charmy frantically.

"We have to save her!" declared Marine, clenching her fists.

Shadow was just about to say something to a still-sobbing Cream when a nearby hedge seemed to explode into a mass of kids.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" bellowed Tails, at the head of a grim-looking trio of small fry. They had their fists up and their grimmest faces on; they were ready to fight to the death if need be.

Shadow spared them a glance with one eye. Then he suddenly lunged forward, grabbed Cream's wrist–she shrieked in fear–and roared "Chaos Control!"

"OH NO!" howled the Kid Brigade, as Shadow and their captive friend disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Only a split-second later, but a good distance away, there was another flash of blue light. Cream and Shadow reappeared, the last of the word "Control!" still dying on Shadow's lips. He let go of Cream's wrist, and she shied away in terror.

"P-please, Mr. Shadow, I won't ever do it again! Please don't hurt me!" she whispered, huddling into herself and squeezing shut her still-teary eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt you," came Shadow's voice, weary but surprisingly calm. "Look, this is your house. Go on home."

It took a second for that to register. Cream at last opened her eyes cautiously, and saw that they were indeed standing on top of a little hill overlooking her house.

"Oh," she whispered, hanging her head. There was silence for a while, then she dared to look timidly up at Shadow. He was quietly wicking yogurt out of his quills. Her eyes filled with tears again as she thought how he must feel. And yet...

"I r-really didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Mr. Shadow," she ventured, hoping she wasn't making a fatal error by hanging around. "I promise I won't ever ever do it again..."

Shadow regarded her for a moment.

"That," he said coolly at last, "would be very nice."

Cream gulped and said nothing.

"Those other hooligans put you up to it, didn't they?" asked Shadow abruptly. "Made you do it?"

More silence from Cream. She didn't want to unleash Shadow's wrath on her friends.

"Silence signifies assent," muttered Shadow. "I figured it wasn't your idea."

Cream continued to say nothing, only hanging her head in shame. It was a little odd; Shadow was doing all the talking, and Cream was being silent.

"Do you know why they sent you to do their dirty work?" asked Shadow, sitting down and continuing to scrape at his quills. "Because everyone trusts you, that's why. If Marine or Charmy or even Tails had come instead of you, I would never have agreed to it. I would have been much more suspicious. But you—I figured you were worthy of a measure of trust. And those 'friends' of yours knew that, and they used it."

Cream had silently dissolved into tears again; it was all too much. Shadow eyed her with a modicum of regret. He hadn't intended to make her feel guilty. Darn, that was one of the many reasons he didn't talk much—fewer chances to botch it.

"I'm not blaming you," he clarified, choosing his words more carefully. "I'm just saying you need to watch out about the company you're keeping. I trust you, and everyone else trusts you, because you're a sweet kid. You've done a lot to establish your trustworthiness. You shouldn't let anyone else ruin it for you. I'm just saying...if they keep forcing you to do things you don't want to do, you should find someone else to hang out with. Got that?"

Shadow finished with a sigh, wondering if he should clock that in as his longest ever speech. Cream, however, was still crying with all her heart.

"Stop that," groaned Shadow. "What are you crying about?"

Cream made some only half-comprehensible reply, choking on her tears; Shadow caught the word "sorry" at least twice, though. He sighed again. What was with this kid? She was going way overboard. He hadn't even hurt her, why would she want to bawl that much? She didn't have to make such a scene over being sorry.

And yet, he somehow knew she genuinely was sorry, not just trying to escape his anger by faking extreme remorse. Knowing Cream, she was probably feeling lower than a murderer right now. The kid was unreal...but then again, that's why everyone loved her.

Shadow was beginning to get uneasy now. Cream was still struggling to get herself under control, and heaven help him if Vanilla should come out of the house and see this. She'd think he'd been bullying her daughter or something.

"Look, just stop—I said it wasn't your fault!" he protested. "I was just giving you advice."

"I'm—t-trying," choked Cream. "I c-can't stop..."

Shadow shut his eyes wearily, then set his teeth and began to awkwardly pat Cream's shoulder.

"It's all right, I tell you," he insisted. "I...heck, I'm not even angry. What, you think some little gag your friends dreamed up would hurt my feelings? I'm way tougher than that. Besides, I'm—" he cut himself off hastily, but then decided he might as well go the whole hog. "You know, I'm pretty much used to it. Don't you know the Faker's always up to some kind of pranks?"

He figured he'd stop there, just short of admitting that he'd fallen for a couple of Sonic's tricks himself. Not many, but...

Cream was pretty sharp, though. Her eyes finally opened again, teary but wide with surprise.

"Sonic?" she asked in wonder. "You mean he's actually managed to...uhh, well..."

"Eh, maybe _once_," said Shadow, reddening slightly. "Look, nevermind, the point of it is, one way or the other you kids would be no more than an annoyance. I'm not hurt at all. Now will you just stop crying?"

Cream took a deep breath and calmed down. Abruptly she wrapped her arms around Shadow, who was more or less at her level now that he was sitting on the ground.

"You don't do things by halves, do you?" sighed Shadow, resisting the urge to get away. "Are you always this overdramatic?"

"Thank you for not being angry, Mr. Shadow," Cream mumbled blissfully into his quills. "You're wonderful."

"Really, that's enough!" said Shadow, standing up and prying the young rabbit off gently. "No more of this mush. Go home."

"Oh, Mommy's not at home today, she went all the way to town and took Cheese with her," said Cream cheerfully. Come to think, Shadow only just now realized the little blue creature hadn't been following Cream around as usual. How had he missed that? Cheese was annoying enough, what with his "Chao, chao!" and continually squeaking wings.

"Anyway, there's nothing to do at home alone, and Mommy won't be back until seven. Where are you going, Mr. Shadow?"

"To Rouge's. We have a work meeting."

"Could I come too?" asked Cream. "I promise I won't get in the way!"

Shadow regarded her blankly for a minute.

"I guess so. Why not?" he said at last. "But it'll be boring for you."

"That's okay," said Cream happily. "I haven't seen Miss Rouge in a long time, and I was supposed to give her Mommy's recipe for carrot muffins. I'll go get it!"

Shadow snorted as Cream whisked down the hill and disappeared into the house. Rouge couldn't bake to save her life. She kept trying new recipes, but next to none of them ever produced anything edible. Shadow couldn't help but needle her about it a little sometimes...but then again, he was certainly going to hear about it himself when he showed up for the meeting with yogurt in his quills. Darnit.

"I've got the recipe!" piped Cream, bouncing out of the house again.

"All right. But..." Shadow sighed resignedly. "You wouldn't happen to have a garden hose anywhere around, would you?"

"Yes, behind the house. Why?"

Shadow jerked a thumb wordlessly at his still-sticky quills.

"Oh," said Cream, blushing sheepishly. "Of course you can wash up there!"

Nodding his thanks, Shadow followed her to the backyard. He dashed some water over his quills and scruffed the stickiness out of them, than doused them again for good measure. Cream watched him regretfully.

"You really are nice not to be mad, Mr. Shadow," she said softly.

"Don't mention it, kid. Any of it. _Ever_," Shadow muttered. Cream giggled in understanding.

Once Shadow had finished washing up and shaken his quills semi-dry, he coiled the hose up again neatly.

"I appreciate you letting me use it," he said, nodding to Cream as they walked back to the front of the house. "If you ever need a favor, I guess I owe you one."

"Really? Oh, then could you please do me just one little favor?" asked Cream eagerly.

"Let's hear it."

"Could we leave a note on my door? So my friends don't get worried if they come looking for me?" asked Cream.

The kid really was the living end.

**A/N: Well, another chapter! No references in this one, except the "two-second freeze," which is kind of based on observation. Have you ever noticed how Shadow seems to freeze up for a second when Tails attacks him or Amy hugs him? I figured that must be a built-in safety measure. Since he's the Ultimate Life Form and all, he could really hurt people if he reacted immediately every time he was startled. So before reacting, he hesitates for just a tiny moment to assess the threat. Just a bit o' trivia there.**

**As to the last chapter! I guess the reference was harder than I thought; sorry about that. Anyway, the reference was the leek that was the Source of All Happiness. That's based on the Leekspin, an internet meme-type thing. It's an animation of a character spinning a leek in their hand, set to the (very catchy) Levvan Polka. I was especially thinking of "Shadow Does the Leekspin," a highly adorable YouTube vid about the joy of twirling a leek. Check it out if you like!**


	3. Secret Recipe

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Pillsbury, or any of the entities referenced. I don't think I own Maria the Hedgehog either, though I'm not sure who does. **

While Cream was in the house getting a piece of paper and pencil, an idea suddenly exploded into Shadow's head. The force was enough to take out his caution centers, which usually stopped any mischievous notions before they even got out of the gate. He spared no sympathy for the rest of the Kid Brigade; he was annoyed enough with them himself, and the way they had treated Cream riled him up even further. Besides, the whole gang of 'em had been getting much too cocky and bothersome lately. They could stand to be taught a lesson...

Soon Cream came bouncing back out with a piece of paper and a ridiculously feathered pink pen (her own treasure, no doubt, so Shadow didn't have the heart to complain). Shadow sat down and positioned the paper on his knee, then scribbled a quick note.

"How's that?" he asked, showing it to Cream. The little rabbit squinted at his handwriting and read it out carefully.

"'I've...taken Cream to...Rouge's...house'," she read. "'Come there if you want...to see her.' Okay, that looks good! You have nice handwriting, Mr. Shadow."

"Uh...thanks," said Shadow. He signed the note, taped it to the door, and turned to leave, stifling a smirk. Let's see if this worked out the way he thought it would...

He set out for Rouge's house, Cream in tow. Cream hadn't a prayer of keeping up with Shadow at any sort of speed, and he didn't feel comfortable with the idea of carrying her, so in the end they had to Chaos Control to their destination. They popped up right in Rouge's living room.

"Oh, there you are," said Rouge, looking up from a magazine without batting an eyelash. "Oh! You brought Cream with you!"

"She asked to come," shrugged Shadow. "And she's had a rough day, so I figured she could if she wanted to."

"Aww, that's sweet of you, Shads," grinned Rouge. Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Hello there, Cream honey," Rouge continued, leaning down to tap the little bunny's nose affectionately. "You're in luck! I just baked a batch of my special secret-recipe sugar cookies!"

"That one recipe that actually works?" said Shadow drily. He was pretty sure that Rouge's "secret recipe" involved taking the batter from one of those metal Pillsbury tubes and trying repeatedly until a batch didn't burn.

"Getting sarcastic, are we?" snorted Rouge, leading Cream to the kitchen. "No cookies for you, mister!"

"Oh, and here's my mommy's recipe that you asked for," said Cream, digging in her pocket and producing a neatly folded piece of paper.

"Thanks, sweetie," said Rouge. She pulled a cookie jar out of a cupboard and set it on the table. "Why don't you help yourself while I file this one away?"

Being a polite little tyke, Cream took only one cookie and munched it daintily. She glanced at Shadow, who gave her a conniving wink, tilting his head at the cookie jar hopefully. Grinning from ear to ear, Cream snuck him a cookie while Rouge's back was turned. Just in time, too.

"I'll have to try that recipe over the—" Rouge broke off. "Say, what are you eating there, Shadow?"

"Nothing," said Shadow coolly, but with his mouth full.

"You're chewing on _something_," Rouge persisted suspiciously.

"A napkin," said Shadow, without missing a beat.

Rouge gave Cream a "Seriously, he-thinks-I'm-buying-that?" look. Cream struggled to stifle her giggles, leading Shadow to wonder how in the world she'd kept a straight and innocent face long enough to fool _him._ Rouge decided to push the game a little further for Cream's benefit.

"Hmm. Why are you eating my napkins?" she asked of Shadow seriously.

"Well, since you won't give me any cookies, I'll eat your table linen," retorted Shadow.

"Oh, well, I never liked those napkins anyway. Have another," said Rouge, presenting Shadow with a flowered napkin. Shadow surveyed it dubiously.

"Wouldn't happen to have any salt, would you? They're a tad bland," he said at length. By now Cream was nearly falling off her chair with amusement. Rouge chuckled and shook her head.

"You're in a good mood today," she said under her breath to Shadow. Shadow shook his head and shrugged noncommitally. Before Rouge could push the matter, there was a knock on the door. Maria came bursting through before anyone could even make a move to answer it.

"Hi Rouge! Oh, hi Shadow! I hope I'm not interrupting the—oh, hi to you too, Cream!"

"Hi Maria!" called Cream happily, waving. "Are you here for the meeting too?"

"No, I came for a set of mecha plans," said Maria, glancing at Rouge inquiringly.

"Sure kiddo, on the table in the office," said Rouge, waving towards the back of the house. Maria tore off in that direction, then returned, poring intently over the blueprints. Meanwhile, Shadow and Rouge started digging out paperwork for their own meeting.

"Is it all right if I stay a while?" asked Maria. "I could play with Cream so she isn't bored."

"Knock yourselves out, youngsters," said Rouge, gesturing sweepingly towards the living room. "I think I have an old board game or two in the closet."

"Yay! Thank you for the cookies, Miss Rouge," piped Cream, hopping off her chair and skipping to the living room.

"Yeah, thanks," smiled Maria, digging a cookie out of the jar and following after the rabbit.

"All right, let's get to work," sighed Rouge resignedly. She chuckled. "Arench'a gonna eat that napkin, Shads?"

"If you don't mind losing it," shrugged Shadow. He scrunched the napkin up and made to swallow it.

"Give that back!" yelped Rouge, knowing that Shadow was fully capable of ingesting a napkin if he really wanted to. "Really now, what's bitten you today?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Honestly. The things I tolerate from you!"

"Who's tolerating whom here?"

Reluctantly the two of them set to work. It was mostly a mass of Team Dark paperwork that had to be sorted out and documented, after some calamity at G.U.N. headquarters had caused the records to be scrambled and in some cases damaged. It was even worse than most paperwork.

About half an hour into the process, there suddenly came a furious banging on Rouge's door. Shadow glanced at his partner and raised an eyebrow.

"I swear I didn't take it! I wasn't even anywhere near it all day!" said Rouge at once.

"Jive talking," muttered Shadow, getting up. "Never mind, I'll get it. The stupid echidna's bound to be spitting mad."

He went to the foyer and opened the door. Just as he expected, he was greeted by the sight of three highly agitated kids.

"Where is she? Huh?" demanded Charmy furiously, bounding off the ground and buzzing at Shadow's eye level.

"Rouge? She's in the—"

"No! Cream! You left a note on her door saying you'd taken her here!"

Shadow smirked slightly. So it had worked—the kids had finally gotten up the nerve to go get Vanilla, had found his note instead, and had no doubt interpreted it much more sinisterly than the average person would have. "If you want to see her" indeed! Shadow had to give the kids some credit for being decent enough to plan on facing Vanilla and confessing they'd "lost" her daughter. And plenty brave too, coming here to challenge him. Still, no excuse...he wasn't about to forgive them that fast. Both for his own sake, and for Cream's.

"Yes, I did take Cream here," he hedged calmly. "I...don't think she can come _see_ you right now."

He leaned against the doorframe and consciously tried to look innocent, knowing it would make him look suspicious. (Rouge had yet to learn that one.) By now the kids looked ready to riot and mow him down.

"You haven't hurt her, have you?" asked Tails desperately, trying to get past Shadow.

"It's best not to get on my wrong side. She got what she deserved," Shadow replied breezily, putting one foot against the opposite doorframe to bar the door.

"B-but...she didn't deserve anything! It wasn't her fault! It wasn't even her idea!"

"Oh? So now you're telling me she was under mind control? Don't waste my time," said Shadow disgustedly, turning to head back inside.

"No, no, she wasn't! She was...she was doing it 'cos we asked her to!" said Tails shamefacedly.

"Welllll, _now_ you tell me?" scowled Shadow. "You mean you were involved in this too?"

"It was all our idea," said Marine, hanging her head. "As revenge for the leek. She didn't even want to do it at all!"

"Well. That's low," said Shadow. He shook his head sternly at the miserable-looking youngsters. "That's just really low. Sending her off to do your dirty work, then letting her take the fall! And here she thought you were her friends."

"We won't ever do it again! We're really sorry!" promised Charmy desperately. "You can punish us if you want, just let her go, please! She's totally innocent!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow, mildly touched, but refused to give up just yet. He shook his head again. "A little too late now, I'm afraid."

The kids' eyes went wide.

"Wh-what...what have you _done_ to her?" whispered Marine.

"Sorry," scowled Shadow, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe once more. "I can't tell you very much. I'm not allowed to give away the secret recipe."

A moment of stunned silence. Then the kids grabbed hold of one another and screamed for all they were worth. The noise finally brought Rouge to the door.

"What the heck?" She regarded the entire tableau blankly.

"Rouge! You're _helping_ him?" wailed Marine.

"Uh, yes?...I usually do, you know."

"How could you?"

"Uhhh...Shadow, what in the world is going on here?"

"They seem to want the secret recipe," said Shadow, jerking a thumb at the kids. "I said they couldn't have it, and they just started carrying on like banshees."

"Secret recipe?" said Rouge, looking confused and a bit suspicious. She knew of the Kid Brigade's prankster reputation, and she wasn't sure if they were trying to pull something or not. "Seriously Shadow, you said you wouldn't give them a cookie recipe and they just started to shriek?" She turned her suspicious glare on Shadow in turn. "Or is something else going on here that I don't know about?"

"How could you?" groaned Tails in despair. "How—wait, what? Did you say _cookie?_"

Before either Rouge or Shadow could reply, there was a somewhat subdued "Hi everyone!" from the doorway at the other end of the foyer.

"CREAM!" howled the rest of the Kid Brigade, throwing themselves at the little rabbit. They proceeded to hug the living daylights out of her and bewilder her with a stream of apologies and explanations and squeals of "You're _alive!_"

"All right...now I know something's going on here," said Rouge, watching them blankly.

"It's nothing you need to know about," said Shadow, still leaning against the doorframe with his hands tucked behind his head.

Judging by his poorly managed smirk, Rouge figured it was most _definitely_ something she needed to know about. Shadow was in for a scolding, ten to one.

**A/N: Annnnd this time there's a reference! It's a song, a fairly old one (70's, I think), and the title is used outright. Let me know if you think you've found it—and good luck! One more chapter, and this'll be done.**


	4. The Brigade Returns

**A/N: Last chapter! First of all, a humongous thank you to all who reviewed! You're all too kind; I'm over the moon here. Now I'm tempted to write another story just about the Kid Brigade—although they will be appearing in future stories too! **

**And I do believe guest reviewer Kid-Kun 8 got the reference to the Leekspin in the first chapter! Congratulations, and virtual cookies all around! They're Rouge's secret recipe, of course. XD**

**Also, the reference in the last chapter was to "Jive Talkin'," an awesome song by the Bee Gees (and I don't own it!). In the song, "jive talking" pretty much just means telling lies, so I thought it would be fun for Shadow to slip that in for a bit of sarcasm.**

**And of course the disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, for which they are probably grateful. :P**

The situation settled down slightly, but not completely. Somehow or other the little escapade reached the ears of all the children's caretakers—namely Sonic, Vanilla, Vector and Espio, and Blaze. There were varying degrees of repercussions, ranging from a stern lecture to that plus two weeks of grounding. That was Marine's fate; Blaze stood no nonsense. The kids were pretty miserable all around.

About a week later, while Marine was still confined to her house (a neat little hut right next to Blaze's), the rest of the Kid Brigade came over to visit. They all said hello in a subdued fashion, then sat glumly on the floor for a while, giving each other hopeless looks. Nobody wanted to make the first move, but it had to be made.

"So...Vector and Espio were really mad at me," said Charmy at length. "They said if we try to play any more pranks, I can't hang out with you guys any more."

"Same for me, mate," said Marine. "Blaze doesn't want me to hang out with you anymore at all, no way, no _how!_ She was just about hot 'nuff to boil a billabong when she 'eard about the big drama."

"Even Sonic was mad at me," agreed Tails glumly. "Even about the pranks—and he's the one who taught me most of the ones I know! So when he asked if he hadn't raised me better than that, I said no."

Marine giggled. "Then what happened, mate?"

"Oh, then he got _really_ mad," said Tails, shuddering. "I think I made him feel guilty. So now _I_ feel guilty, 'cos I know he's been working really hard to bring me up right..." He sighed and flopped back, using his tails as a fluffy cushion. "Not my proudest moment."

A bit of silence.

"I guess we've gotta break up the club, huh?" said Charmy at last.

"Guess so..."

"Maybe we don't have to," said Cream softly. The others looked at her in surprise. She had been quiet throughout the meeting, since she hadn't really been in much trouble with her mother. She'd only gotten a stern lecture about peer pressure.

"What's the point of being a club now? We can't do any of the fun stuff anymore," grumbled Charmy. "If we tell the grown-ups that we've stopped being a club, at least maybe they'll still let us hang out the usual way."

"But it's more fun when we're a club, even if we don't do anything special," said Cream. "Besides, we could start doing nice things instead of being naughty. Then the grown-ups wouldn't mind us being a club at all!"

"Nice things?" Charmy wrinkled his nose. "That's boring."

"But at least we could still be a club! Don't you want to keep the motto and song and everything?" persisted Cream adamently. "And it could too be fun! We could do nice things secretly, and pretend to be ninjas or spies or something!"

"You know, maybe Cream has a point," said Tails thoughtfully.

"True that...if I promised we were going to be extra-good, maybe I could convince Blaze to let me hang out with you blokes again!" said Marine.

"Hey Cream," said Tails, jumping to his feet. "Since you're the best at being nice, and, uh...since we kinda owe ya after the big disaster and all...do you want to be club president?"

Cream blinked surprisedly. "But our club doesn't have a president."

"It could, though!"

"But I don't know if I—"

"Chao, chao-chao!" interrupted Cheese vehemently. Cream looked at the little chao and shook her head.

"Are you sure, Cheese?"

"Chao!"

"Well...I guess I could try," said Cream slowly, smiling.

"All right!" grinned Charmy. "Let's get out there and start convincing the grown-ups we're on the straight and narrow!"

"The up-n'-up!" agreed Marine.

"Once Sonic and I start speaking to each other again..." groaned Tails. Marine patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.

* * *

It took a little convincing, but the kids were at last permitted to re-form the Kid Brigade, under the new terms and also under strict surveillance. If anything fishy started going on, they were going to be in a sea of trouble.

After a week, Marine's grounding was over and the Brigade reconvened properly. They were a bit subdued and nervous, and wound up sitting and playing "Bubblegum" for a while. They figured they couldn't possibly get into any trouble doing that. When they were properly sick of counting imaginary pieces of bubblegum, they decided to start planning out the club's future in more concrete terms. For the sake of form, and to escape a brewing rainstorm, they headed to Cream's house so they could meet in the basement clubhouse. In the end they had to run to avoid getting soaked.

"Hi kids," smiled Vanilla, as the foursome came bursting in through the front door.

"Hello Mrs. Rabbit!" chorused Tails, Charmy, and Marine.

"Is it okay if we go play the basement, Mommy?" asked Cream.

"Of course. Oh, and I almost forgot! Cream, a package came for you in the mail. It's in the living room."

"Oh!" said Cream. "Thank you! I'll go get it. You guys go ahead, I'll join you in a minute!"

The others filed downstairs and plunked down on the floor. They were surprised when Cream came dashing down after them in no time at all, still carrying the small brown parcel.

"It's for all of us!" she announced, pointing at the address. "See? 'To Cream and her friends'."

"There's no return address," Tails pointed out apprehensively. "What if someone's trying to get even with us?"

Now their active imaginations led them all to be a little nervous. They listened carefully for ticking, but heard none. Tails shook the box gingerly, yielding a firm thump-thump-thump sound. It didn't sound fragile, so they threw it across the basement. When nothing happened, they figured their only remaining test was to actually open the box.

"Let's all do it together, mates," said Marine grimly. "Do or die!"

They all took hold of a different corner, Cream counted to three, and they tore into the brown paper wrapping. The box seemed innocuous enough, so they set it on the floor, gingerly folded open the lid at arms' length, and ever so cautiously peeked in.

Vanilla was soon mildly startled by a chorus of delighted squeals coming from the basement. The Kid Brigade was unanimously ecstatic about the parcel—the box had contained a fine fresh leek.


End file.
